{"id":19196,"date":"2019-03-08T23:03:38","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T23:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/03\/08\/unvaccinated-boy-6-spent-57-days-in-the-hospital-with-tetanus\/"},"modified":"2019-03-08T23:03:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T23:03:38","slug":"unvaccinated-boy-6-spent-57-days-in-the-hospital-with-tetanus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/unvaccinated-boy-6-spent-57-days-in-the-hospital-with-tetanus\/","title":{"rendered":"Unvaccinated Boy, 6, Spent 57 Days In The Hospital With Tetanus"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sasha Ingber<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n A nurse holds a tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough vaccine in 2016. Physician Judith Guzman-Cottrill tells NPR that she has met many families who hesitate to give their children vaccines.<\/p>\n

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Lucy Nicholson\/Reuters<\/p>\n

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Lucy Nicholson\/Reuters<\/p>\n

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A new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention details the harrowing story of a child in Oregon who contracted tetanus because he wasn’t vaccinated.<\/p>\n

The boy was playing outside on a farm in 2017 when he cut his forehead. Six days later, he started having symptoms: a clenched jaw, muscle spasms and involuntary arching of his neck and back. When he started struggling to breathe, his parents realized he needed help and called for emergency medical services.<\/p>\n

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Doctors diagnosed the 6-year-old boy with tetanus and administered a dose of the vaccine, but it took 57 days in a hospital, including 47 days in intensive care, to restore his health.<\/p>\n

“It was difficult to take care of him, to watch him suffer,” says Judith Guzman-Cottrill, a pediatric infectious-disease physician who co-authored the article<\/a> in the CDC’s online journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At first, he asked for water but couldn’t open his mouth. The boy had to spend weeks in a dark room on a respirator. He was able to walk 20 feet, with help, after 50 days.<\/p>\n

At a time when preventable outbreaks<\/a> are making headlines in the United States, Guzman-Cottrill tells NPR that she has met many families who hesitate to give their children vaccines.<\/p>\n

“These days, there are so many different places parents can go to for vaccine-related education and advice that many families struggle with knowing who to believe.”<\/p>\n

The Internet and social media have made it harder for people to distinguish fact from fiction, she says.<\/p>\n